Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN -- Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Thursday that he hoped lawmakers could find money to help schools like UTEP rise to the level of elite national universities even as he outlined tough budgetary times ahead for state legislators.

"I believe we need more flagship universities," Dewhurst said during a wide-ranging discussion with Capitol reporters.

Writing the two-year budget and dealing with the state's growing needs with $9 billion less than two years ago will be lawmakers' top challenge during the legislative session, he said. Among other priorities he listed was setting aside funds for schools, including the University of Texas at El Paso, that are working to become top-tier universities.

Making sure UTEP gets money to reach the tier-one level is a top priority for El Paso lawmakers this year. Typically, a tier-one university is one that receives more than $100 million in federal research grants and has selective admissions, low student-faculty ratios and competitive salaries. Achieving that status means economic benefits for the university and the city where it is located.

But some of the state's top leaders, including Gov. Rick Perry, have said the money probably would not be available now to create more top-tier universities.

The Texas House and Senate this week filed preliminary budgets of about $170 billion, only about 1 percent more than state lawmakers spent two years ago to write the current budget. Lawmakers expect to dip into the state's reserve fund to make up for the $9 billion shortage.

"Virtually every family in Texas is tightening the belt," Dewhurst said. "I think government ought to be doing the same thing."

To find money for priorities such as higher education and health care, Dewhurst said he would ask Senate budget writers to scrutinize the Texas budget for unnecessary spending to slice.

Raising taxes when Texans are already feeling the sting of the economic crisis, he said, would be unwise.

Dewhurst also said he expected the Senate to approve some type of limit on tuition increases at public universities. Since lawmakers in 2003 gave universities the authority to set their own tuition rates, prices have skyrocketed.

Dewhurst said Texas can't afford to price students out of higher education as the need for skilled workers grows.

The need for workers, he said, is also the reason Texas needs to create more top-tier universities. "This is a decade-long process, but we're not going to get there until we start this process."

Some money, Dewhurst said, may be available to create an incentive fund to reward universities that work to propel themselves to the national research level, including obtaining research money and contributions from its home community.

UTEP President Diana Natalicio said Dewhurst's comments about the potential for tier-one funding this year are encouraging.

"I think everyone understands that the resources may not be there to have a full-blown initiative designed to create a whole host of new tier-one institutions, but setting an agenda, setting a pathway É says that we recognize the importance of having more research universities in the state," she said.

Whether or not the state provides tier-one money, though, Natalicio said, UTEP will continue to submit grant proposals and expand research capabilities.

But in other areas, Natalicio has asked UTEP staff and faculty to make cuts because of the troubled economy and expectations that lawmakers may not provide much, if any, additional operating cash for universities this year.

In a memo last week, Natalicio said that among UTEP's cost-saving measures would be a flexible hiring freeze and suspension of some renovation and building projects. It also will more closely monitor travel expenses.

UTEP has no fiscal crisis, she said, and saving money now could prevent or soften any future financial blows. "Times are tough right now, and we're all, I think, facing a lot of challenges."

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said he would fight to make sure UTEP gets tier-one funding and that critical services such as health care for children aren't slashed as lawmakers wrestle over how to spend scant state dollars.

"What always happens" during a budget crunch, Shapleigh said, "is the most vulnerable, the least powerful have the worst pain inflicted on the them."